Embedded systems comprises focused, limited, and/or single purpose devices for performing a particular set of functionality. Examples of embedded systems comprise specialized device and/or machinery controllers, communication components such as networking devices, etc. Operating system and application software for embedded systems are often combined into a minimal software set for controlling operation of the embedded systems. The combined software set enables booting of the embedded system into an operational state through the use of a boot configuration file accessed at boot (or startup time) which specifies particular parameters used in conjunction with the combined software set.
As such, embedded systems do not comprise the capability to boot using different combined software sets and/or boot configuration files without performing an upgrade (or modification or replacement) of the existing combined software set installed on the system. A static mechanism for booting embedded systems has been used in the past. Additionally, embedded systems did not provide the capability to access and use differing boot configuration files.